May 3, 2012 - Registration Now Open for 2012 Historic Preservation Conference

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR 2012 HISTORIC PRESERVATION CONFERENCENew Jersey Historic Trust to Present Conference June 7 at Rider University

TRENTON, N.J. – The New Jersey Historic Trust, an affiliate of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), will co-host the 2012 Historic Preservation Conference on June 7 at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. The conference, “Sustaining the Past – Inventing the Future,” will acquaint attendees with successful preservation methods and partnerships and demonstrate how they can be applied in their communities. Registration is now open for people interested in attending the conference.

“Understanding and appreciating the past is key to successful community building for the future, which is what makes this conference relevant year after year,” said DCA Acting Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III, who will be a featured speaker at the conference. “The Historic Preservation Conference enjoys a stellar reputation and this year’s conference promises to be no different.”

Keynote Speaker Steve Mouzon, an architect, urbanist and president of the Miami-based New Urban Guild, will address how to build better and more sustainable buildings that harmonize with the community in which they are built. Mouzon’s recent book, The Original Green, frames sustainability in common-sense, plain-spoken terms that he will incorporate in his keynote remarks. He will join nearly 60 other expert speakers during the fourth annual conference to address such topics as preventative conservation of historic buildings, battlefield preservation, historic site surveys, African American sites in New Jersey, and areas in need of redevelopment.

The conference will also include several outdoor workshops such as a walking tour of Princeton that will highlight the role of planning in historic preservation and a house tour of five distinctive, residential Princeton properties that have undergone major restoration and/or adaptive reuse, including Westland, a Georgian Revival house purchased after former U.S. President Grover Cleveland and his wife settled in Princeton, and the Tudor-Revival home of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.

“We’re delighted to present this informative, inspiring day-long program for historic preservation commissions, nonprofit stewards, architecture and preservation professionals, and anyone interested in preserving our past for future generations,” said Historic Trust Executive Director Dorothy Guzzo. “For people with an abiding interest in history, preservation, architecture, archeology or heritage tourism, it is an event not to be missed.”

In addition to the New Jersey Historic Trust, the conference is being hosted by Common Wealth of New Jersey, Historic Preservation Office of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the New Jersey Historical Commission.

Established in 1967, the Historic Trust is the only nonprofit historic preservation organization in New Jersey created by state law. It provides financial support and technical assistance to historic preservation projects throughout the state of New Jersey.